“New regional surges in coronavirus cases forced the Environmental Protection Agency to put on hold some of the earliest planned returns of federal employees to their offices, while the first volunteers at a few other federal agencies are quietly going back to their desks. A ...

“The advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility claimed on Tuesday the Environmental Protection Agency is failing the CDC’s criteria for reopening. “In recent days, EPA has announced it will open regional offices located in Atlanta, Kansas City and Seattle. ...

“Public comment periods begin ending Monday, June 8, for the U.S. Department of Interior’s policy proposal to regulate e-bikes as traditional bikes on non-motorized lands. The policy proposal in August allowed e-bikes access to non-motorized trails 30 days afterward and led to ...

“The acting director of the Bureau of Land Management will remain in his position after the U.S. Department of the Interior extended his tenure despite a lawsuit disputing the appointment. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Western Watersheds Project filed a ...

“Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts is wrestling with solutions for mosquito-borne illnesses such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile Virus (WNV). A coalition consisting of national, state and local nonprofits, with the assistance of 75 legislators, won major ...

“William Perry Pendley will remain in charge of the Bureau of Land Management after the Interior Department took a different approach to extending Pendley’s time at the helm of the agency, possibly due to a pending lawsuit. “The leadership of the BLM will not change,” Interior ...

“The Interior Department is bypassing legal concerns over whether the acting directors of the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service are qualified to lead the agencies.Instead, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt is authorizing William Perry Pendley and David Vela to ...

“The Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed a new permit system that could effectively streamline the killing of voracious double-crested cormorants. A federal judge vacated the orders in 2016 after concluding FWS did not sufficiently consider the effects of the depredation orders ...

“Scenic overflights at national parks, though pricey, prove popular with tourists. But they have gone largely unregulated despite a 20-year-old law requiring the National Park Service and the Federal Aviation Administration to craft management plans for each of the parks that host ...

“A telecommunications business rebuffed the National Park Service last winter after park officials asked for a smaller, pilot version of the company’s plan to add hundreds of antennas transmitting Wi-Fi signals throughout developed areas in Yellowstone National Park. Ruch, of PEER ...

“Advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said on Monday the National Park Service is reopening national parks without instituting proper social distancing measures. “If state and local governments, and even Disney World, can enforce social distancing and ...

“Yet another Zoom meeting beckoned, pulling University of Colorado scientist Detlev Helmig from his data. On Monday, April 7, 2020 he clicked into a meeting organized by Merritt Turetsky, director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) where Helmig worked. She asked ...

“As Green Matters explains, national parks closed their doors during the coronavirus pandemic. They had originally been ordered to waive entry fees, to “[make] it a little easier for the American public to enjoy the outdoors in our incredible National Parks,” but park-goers ...

“It’s long been known that human waste can carry a lot of nasty pathogens that survive passage through the bowels — from bacteria like cholera and fecal coliform to assorted viruses like hepatitis and, over the last few months, the novel coronavirus. Already in cities like Paris ...

“Fifty-seven percent of EPA staff said they were dissatisfied with the agency’s release of scientific information to the public, according to an agency watchdog report posted today. Tim Whitehouse, a former EPA enforcement attorney, called the results “awful” and ...

“Pendley has helped turn BLM into what one high-level employee, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, called “a ghost ship” in which “suspicion”, “fear” and “low morale” abound, despite the best efforts of career civil servants to support each other. ...

“Public employees and environmental groups recently filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s appointments for two of the nation’s largest public lands management agencies. In addition to the legal and constitutional complaints, advocates also worry about agency ...

“The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a rule “reinterpretation” that would allow commercial landfills to start taking in low level radioactive waste, in lieu of the four currently licensed disposal facilities nationwide. Critics, like Jeff Ruch, West Coast head ...

“Ten conservation groups and a renowned botanist urged the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources today to immediately review whether the imperiled Tiehm’s buckwheat wildflower should be protected under state law. The department agreed to protect it more than six ...

“On Wednesday, Zion national park in Utah, one of the most popular natural attractions in the US, received its first visitors in more than a month as the Trump administration continued its push to reopen the nation’s outdoors as well as it cities and businesses. Yet the phased ...